New Estimates Reveal ChatGPT-5 Energy Use Could Soar

The energy consumption of the latest version of ChatGPT, known as ChatGPT-5, is expected to be significantly higher than its predecessors, according to emerging research. While OpenAI, the organization behind ChatGPT, has yet to release official figures detailing the energy footprint of its models, independent experts are making estimates that suggest a dramatic increase in energy usage per query.

Currently, there are no regulations requiring AI companies to disclose their energy consumption or environmental impact. As of May 2023, a striking 84 percent of all large language model traffic occurred on systems that lack any environmental disclosures. Sasha Luccioni, the climate lead at AI company Hugging Face, expressed concern over this lack of transparency, stating, “It blows my mind that you can buy a car and know how many miles per gallon it consumes, yet we use all these AI tools every day and we have absolutely no efficiency metrics, emissions factors, nothing.” She emphasized that such disclosures should be a regulatory priority, particularly in light of the ongoing climate crisis.

The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has mentioned that ChatGPT consumes approximately 0.34 watt-hours of energy and 0.000085 gallons of water per query. However, details regarding the specific model these figures pertain to have not been clarified, nor has there been any corroborating data provided.

Estimations by external experts, such as Rakesh Kumar, a professor at the University of Illinois, suggest that ChatGPT-5 may require as much as 20 times more energy than the original version. Kumar noted, “A more complex model like GPT-5 consumes more power both during training and during inference.” He highlighted that its design targets long-form thinking, indicating a substantial increase in power consumption compared to its predecessor, ChatGPT-4.

Research conducted at the University of Rhode Island indicates that a single query to ChatGPT-5 could consume up to 40 watt-hours of electricity when generating a medium-length response, roughly equivalent to 1,000 tokens. On average, they estimate the model uses slightly over 18 watt-hours for such a response. This positions ChatGPT-5 among the highest energy-consuming AI models, surpassed only by OpenAI’s own o3 reasoning model and Deepseek’s R1.

Calculating these energy consumption rates is complicated by a lack of transparency in the AI sector, despite growing scrutiny. Marwan Abdelatti, a professor at the University of Rhode Island, stated, “It’s more critical than ever to address AI’s true environmental cost. We call on OpenAI and other developers to use this moment to commit to full transparency by publicly disclosing GPT-5’s environmental impact.”

As tech companies ramp up their energy consumption to fuel their AI operations, the impact is being felt by consumers. Reports indicate that electricity rates for households and small businesses could rise sharply as major tech firms like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft expand their data centers. The New York Times has highlighted concerns that these expansions will not only affect those directly using AI but also broader communities, which bear the brunt of rising energy costs.

David Lapp, a representative from Maryland’s People’s Counsel, voiced concerns about the implications of these shifts. He remarked, “We are witnessing a massive transfer of wealth from residential utility customers to large corporations—data centers and large utilities and their corporate parents, which profit from building additional energy infrastructure.” He criticized current utility regulations for failing to protect residential customers, contributing to an emerging energy affordability crisis.

As the demand for AI technologies such as ChatGPT grows, it becomes increasingly crucial to understand the environmental implications. Without firm regulatory frameworks in place, the onus falls on developers like OpenAI to lead the way in transparency regarding energy consumption and environmental impact.